15/06/2026
HERTSMERE BOROUGH COUNCIL : TEMPORARY HOUSING SCANDAL - EDWINTREE COURT UNINHABITABLE HOMES COSTING ÂŁ2.8M
Still no accountability for this absolute “cash cow” disaster, imposed by the Conservative administration on the residents of Crown Road, even after ongoing complaints from them and their then Ward Councillor, Michelle Vince, who petitioned the council on many occasions about ongoing issues, including the length of time this development would take to come to fruition, residents having to endure endless bad language, harassment and voyeurism from contractors who worked on this mindless project, where residents were threatened by the then housing portfolio holder, yet after all this time, there has still been no accountability as to the purchase of these units purchased without any guarantees of worthiness as the contractor ANYCLOUD went bankrupt twice. The question remains unanswered as to whether these units were bought at the full purchase price or whether they were actually “liquidated stock”, the mind boggles that any administration was allowed to construct this absolute disastrous mess in the first place, having a s137 notice that due to power lines and a pylon were on the land, no brick buildings were allowed to be constructed, so how did this situation change the dynamics of the Plsnning Department, which had to amend the plans after they were originally approved due to to maintenance issues, the units being too close to the overhead power lines which caused them to rethink their original design and placed these monstrous structures on the existing boundaries of existing residential properties, without any redress to the residents affected. During the beginning of the COVID pandemic’s, all Oliver Dowden was interested in was residents being put into these units as fast as possible, yet it wasn’t until 7 weeks into the pandemic were residents first allowed to move in, contractors still working on this project and spreading COVID around the area after visit local businesses with no protective equipment or measures in place to protect residents from being exposed to COVID. Where is the accountability, honesty, integrity and transparency from the previous Concerned administration - the same place where it’s always been - at the doorstep of Hertsmere Borough aCouncil and its members plus of course Oliver Dowden MP for Hertsmere who only appears for photo ops and spouting how brilliant the Conservatives are, when these units are now worthless and too expensive to remove - another waste of public monies which councillors couldn’t give a damn about - and they call this progress - since this monstrous project was finished, Ealing Council had now removed all their remaining units like these, after openly admitting they had made a disastrous decision in the first place - never got anything remotely close from the Conservatives and Hertsmere Borough Council , whose Planning Department is now in “Special Measures” - so much for local government authorities, especially Hertsmere Borough Council, which seems to have never learnt it’s lesson about inept planning approval - still now the Planning Department is now on “Special Measures”, things will either get better or decidedly worse - let’s all pray it doesn’t or else our once beautiful village will concreter instead of being surrounded by arable land that has been here since the time of the Doomsday Book - just remember you can eat crops but you can’t eat concrete!!
